Sony Pictures has made a bold statement by confirming it will use Artificial Intelligence to produce future movies and TV shows.
Chief executive Tony Vinciquerra recently attended an investor conference in Japan and told attendees that the studio is "very focused on AI" as they look to cut costs.
"We'll be looking at ways to use AI to produce films for theaters and television in more efficient ways, using AI primarily," Vinciquerra said.
He'd later add, "The agreements that came out of last year’s strikes and the agreements that will come out of the IATSE and Teamster [negotiations] will define roughly what we do with AI."
He's referring to the ongoing negotiations between Hollywood's major crew union and top studios; the fear is that AI tools like OpenAI's "Sora" will undermine labour from crewmembers and talent. Now, the IATSE hopes to secure the same guarantees as actors and writers following the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
Like it or not, studios are becoming increasingly reliant on AI; it was only last year that DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested it would likely cut the costs of making an animated movie by as much as 90%, with only 50 artists needed to create them in place of 500.
As for why Sony is heading down this route, The Hollywood Reporter believes it may come down to a series of commercial disappointments, including Morbius, Madame Web and, if we had to hazard a guess, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Film fans have been quick to reject AI use in films. Late Night with the Devil, an otherwise great horror movie, ended up being overshadowed by the decision to utilise AI-generated images at various points. Whether regular moviegoers realise or care is another matter.
Ironically, while addressing Madame Web's failings, star Dakota Johnson expressed concern over AI.
"You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms," she said. "My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those."
"But it was definitely an experience for me to make [Madame Web]. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now," Johnson added. "But sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, 'Wait, what?'"
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